I’m hoping this is a little easier with the technology!
After reading the article on family conferences, as well as the readings on family engagement, please plan for ONE of these conferences. You should show that you’ve read the articles based on how you present the conference. Since this is a pretend scenario, you get to decide what’s been happening, but you should use your understanding of family engagement and child development to respond to the situation. Here are the articles from last week: Articles for Family/School Conference
Put yourself in the role of the teacher and make sure to cover the following:
- let the family know how you feel about the child,
- demonstrate that you came prepared
- make a positive connection with the family,
- address the issue with a plan,
- arrange a follow-up,
Then, please post your video on how you as the teacher might have this conference via video. You can click on the record/upload video button in your reply and either record it right here or upload it. Put TEACHER in all caps at the top of the post and then attach your video.
Remember, just choose one:
SCENARIO #1
Teacher-initiated conference:
It is in November. You have a three-year-old child, Ella, in your class whose birthday is June 1st. The girl has been having a very hard time inserting herself into play with other children, despite trying in various ways. Sometimes, she tries to ask if she can play and other times she goes to where the children are playing and is destructive with the materials that they are using. Most recently she watched as a group of students worked on a volcano in the sandbox and then started walking very close to it and caused parts of it to crumble as the children screamed and yelled at her to stop. When asked about what was happening, she said that she wanted to play with them but knew that they wouldn’t let her.
At your initial conference with her family (her mom and grandfather) in September, the mother talked about how Ella says she doesn’t have any friends in the class and often says that she has nobody to play with during her time at school. At that conference, you told the parent that you would watch what was happening, and then you would reach out to meet later in the fall. You now decide that it’s time to reach out.
SCENARIO #2
Parent-initiated Conference
It is in January. You have a 2-year-old boy, Marco, in your class (he turns three on April 12th) who has been taking fabric and making dresses out of them with two girls. The three children have been running around saying that they are princesses and pretending to chase each other and sometimes reenacting movies about princesses that they’ve seen. This play began in the fall with Marco and other boys and the two girls playing with dolls together. They would pretend to feed the dolls and put them to sleep or sometimes just all take the dolls around with them as they had other experiences. As the year has progressed, they play less often with the dolls and the other boy and more the three of them (Marco and the two girls) playing dress-up. The mom and dad would pick Marco up and ask him about the fabric that he was wearing. He would tell them he’s a princess and the parents would glance at each other. You talked with them regularly about the connections he was making with the children in the class and how he was a sought-after friend due to his openness to others and their ideas. The parents have recently been asking you about how much time he’s spending playing dress-up and then last week they requested this conference.
SCENARIO #3
Teacher-initiated conference
It is October and a five-year-old boy, Asar, (he turned five on September 30th) has been happily transitioning into your T-K class. He’s making friends, engaging with the materials, and even trying hard to work with another child who is still very much struggling with impulse control. He shows a lot of patience for the child and will often remind him to talk to someone rather than be physical. He loves listening to a teacher read and looking at books himself and when outside he spends a great deal of time engaged in dramatic play in the sandbox. He uses the trucks and wheelbarrow in his games with his friends and they often like to imagine what might be under the sand as they’re digging as deep as they can. Asar’s family, his two moms, have asked you several times about kindergarten readiness. They want to make sure that he’s ready to start kindergarten and worry that because he’s on the older side that he might get bored. They’ve asked about homework and for suggestions about starting him on a phonics lesson.
SCENARIO #4
Parent-initiated conference
It is in late September. You have a one-and-a-half-year-old girl, Natalia, in your class who is brand new to your school (she turns two on March 10th). Her family’s first language is Portuguese, which nobody in your school speaks. The girl’s dad is a single father who can speak English but is not 100% fluent. You had a meeting with him when Natalia first started at the beginning of September. You learned more about their family, including that her mother lives out of state, and that he speaks to Natalia primarily in Portuguese. As you’ve gotten to know Natalia, you’ve observed that she’s not verbal yet. She’s doing some babbling, but it’s very infrequent. When you talk with her, she doesn’t seem to engage with you/ or respond to your verbal cues. You attempted to use sign language with Natalia, as you often do with pre-verbal children, but Natalia, yet, has not mimicked any of the signs. She does seem happy; will let you hold her and seems relaxed in your arms and free to explore her environment. Her father has asked to meet to check in and see how she is adjusting to school.
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